A Million Miles
by ani star
Summary: Carlin has just arrived in New Orleans, the location fo the boarding school she is going to attend. She meets a boy who is to become a good friend (and maybe more).


_The characters in this story are heavily based on and named after most of the characters in Alice Hoffman's The River King.  PLEASE don't sue me anyone…._

**A Million Miles**

**Chapter One**

The hot Louisiana air hit the beautiful, blue eyed, blonde as she stepped off of the bus and onto the parking lot of the bus station.  She had been on that damn bus for about three days, and the stability if the firm ground beneath her was almost soothing, and seemed to offer a sense of security.  There had been, of course, the occasional food or restroom stop, but they had only lasted at most twenty minutes, and she was glad to be at the end of her long journey.  And she had not yet in her life smelled air so sweet like this.

Suddenly, Carly's thoughts were interrupted by a hand on her arm from behind.  She turned around, startled, and saw a tall, somewhat handsome, thin boy dressed in a school uniform, brown hair hanging down in his face.  In a deep, chocolately voice he said, "Hello? Miss? Are you Carlin Leander?  I'm August Pierce.  The headmaster sent me to pick you up."

"Yes, that's me…please, call me Carly.." She said, smiling faintly, almost hypnotized by his green eyes that she hadn't noticed a moment before.

"It's nice to meet you!  I'll be showing you around some.  Come to the car."

"Thank you.." Carly said, almost in whisper.  After the two of them had packed the trunk, they settled in for the ride to the school.  Surprisingly, (although Carly appreciated it) August was quite silent for the ride.  This silence gave her a time to think.  As the landscape of the bayou passed, she drifted into a deep musing…

As a girl of 16, Carly had never really strayed from her home in Maine.  In fact, the farthest away she had ever been from home was on a school trip to New York City, and that had been in the fifth grade.  This was partially because of the small fear of separation from her mother that she had developed after her fathers' sudden death, and partially because of financial difficulties (her family was quite poor, and almost all of her belongings were thrift shop material).  And now, all of a sudden, she was what seemed to be millions of miles away from home, with new feels and smells and tastes all around her!  Ahh, how this sweet air was wonderfully robust in comparison to the cool, crisp air of her hometown.

Her hometown.  That was behind her now.  She was Carly Leander, a junior in high school, just accepted into one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the country.  Just thinking about it was baffling!  Three months ago, at the beginning of June, her teacher (who also happened to be her neighbor and friend) had first told her about the Pierce School.  "You would be a shoe-in, Carly!  They would be begging you to attend their school.  Apply, and I'll write you a recommendation letter."  Mrs. Andrews had said.      

And what would you know!  A few weeks later, there it was in the mail-a letter of acceptance and a "Congratulations! You have earned a full scholarship to our school."  She was so surprised that she stayed in shock all throughout the party her mom threw, the next two months, and all throughout packing!  Never in her wildest dreams had Carly thought this possible, but now everything she wanted was on a nice big golden platter that had just been placed in front of her.

          For as long as anyone could remember, the Pierce School had harboured the best students in the country.  The graduates of  _this_ school were the ones that went on to achieve highest honors at Harvard and Yale.  But not many of them knew the real history of the school.  Not like August did.

          August Pierce was a bright boy, as were all of the Pierces'.  His great-great-grandfather had been Jonathan Pierce, founder of the Pierce School.  Their family had inherited a huge sum of money and property, and almost all of it went to the school Jonathan had always dreamed of building.  The men of the family always went on to be headmaster of the school, living in the large white mansion of the school's beautiful campus.  It was expected of a Pierce boy to conform to this life.  It was just how things worked.     

          But August, well, August was different.  To everyone else, the Pierce School and Family were larger than life, famous for generations.  His father had even been on the cover of Time Magazine!  The students of the school were envied by those not accepted.  But to August, it was a jail cell.  He longed for someone to understand him.  All throughout his life, he had wanted to be different.  He wanted to be a normal kid, for the reporters (somehow, they always got his report card) and his father and grandfather to just leave him alone!  He couldn't even think the wrong thing without someone finding out!  And the girls were a category of their own!  The girls at the Pierce School might be smart as all hell, but they were still normal teenage girls, and they went for the jocks, not the shy debate club president who listened to all the wrong music and liked al the wrong things.  And when they did try to date him, it was only because of his family's large estate and the "title" and" privileges" they believed to come with dating the headmaster's son. 

          As he sat in his car, driving towards the school's campus, his home, he turned over the events of the last twenty minutes in his head.  He had expected to be picking up the average new scholarship student, prissy and conceited, wanting to talk about themselves.  Her name was Carlin Leander, he had been told.  But the girl sitting next to him was anything but that description.  In fact, she was the polar opposite.  Her silence intrigued him.  And she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

And now, August debated in his head whether to say something to her.  He didn't have much time, because the school was about ten minutes away.  HE felt almost as though if he didn't talk to her now he would lose his chance forever.  After about two minutes of debating he decided to talk to her.  But when he turned to talk to her, he realized that he had chosen a quite opportune moment and looked back to the road.  EH understood the homesickness she was feeling.  As he had turned, one single tear had rolled down her cheek.


End file.
